Welcome to This Week in Women's Health Care—the round-up for women who care about what's going on in Washington and around the country and how it affects their rights. Once a week, we'll bring you the latest news from the world of women's health care policy and explain how it impacts you. Let's get to it!

Here's what's up…

The U.S. Secretary of Energy doesn't think humans are the main cause of climate change.

Secretary of Energy Rick Perry (you might know him from Dancing with the Stars or his failed presidential run in 2012) denied proven facts about climate change in a recent interview with CNBC. When asked whether he believed carbon dioxide emissions were to blame for climate change, Perry said no—"most likely, the primary control knob is the ocean waters and this environment that we live in." Wait, what?

Interestingly, these statements contradict pretty much everything the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have concluded: Humans are, in fact, the primary cause of climate change.

New York is taking steps to end harassment outside abortion clinics once and for all.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has announced a federal lawsuit, suing anti-abortion protestors for unlawful harassment outside a local abortion clinic called Choices. According to HuffPost, this harassment includes protesters following patients around with giant graphic (and heavily edited) photos of aborted fetuses, shouting anti-abortion and sexist things at patients, and waving fliers and booklets in the faces of patients and their loved ones.

"The tactics used to harass and menace Choices’ patients, families, volunteers, and staff are not only horrifying—they’re illegal," Schneiderman said in a statement. "The law guarantees women the right to control their own bodies and access the reproductive health care they need, without obstruction. We’ll do what it takes to protect those rights for women across New York."

President Donald Trump wants to pass a law preventing immigrants from getting welfare for the first five years they're here.

Spoiler alert: That legislation already exists. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 keeps immigrants from being eligible for "any federal means-tested public benefit" (so, welfare—among other things) for the first five years they're living in the United States. There are, of course, exceptions and amendments to this rule that have altered eligibility requirements over time. But you get the picture.

Texas and New York have made child marriage illegal—because for whatever reason, it's still legal in many states.

Texas and New York both passed laws this week banning child marriage in their respective states. Texas' law previously allowed 16- and 17-year-olds to wed as long as they had parental consent, and New York allowed those as young as 14 to secure marriage licenses with approval from a parent and a judge. In 27 states, there's no limit to how young a child can get married—as long as a judge signs off on the marriage.

"Child marriage is a dirty secret in the United States, and other states should follow New York’s example by enacting laws to help end this harmful practice," Heather Barr, senior women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. "U.S. state laws permitting child marriage are out of step with the rest of the world, since even countries with high rates of child marriage are recognizing the harm it causes and taking steps to prevent these marriages."

New York just confirmed its first openly gay judge to its highest federal court.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently named the first openly gay judge to the New York Court of Appeals. Judge Paul G. Feinman, who previously served as an associate justice for the Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan, will fill the seat previously held by Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam, who passed away in April. LGBTQ rights advocates are excited about Cuomo's appointment, which was unanimously approved by the members of Senate Judiciary Committee.

Barack Obama doesn't think the Senate's follow-up to the American Health Care Act should even be called a "health care bill."

Former president Barack Obama took to Facebook Thursday night to express his disappointment in the Senate's new health care bill, The Better Care Reconciliation Act. "The Senate bill, unveiled today, is not a health care bill," he wrote. "Simply put, if there’s a chance you might get sick, get old, or start a family—this bill will do you harm."

Obama gave examples of some of the specific people this bill would hurt: those addicted to opioids who suddenly lose coverage, those on Medicaid who can no longer access the care they need, and those who have a medical emergency and can't afford their bills, among others. Obama noted that nothing can change the "fundamental meanness at the core of this legislation." The Senate's health care plan would disadvantage people with disabilities, low incomes, and the elderly—all the while offering tax cuts to the drug industry, the insurance industry, and wealthy Americans. People with pre-existing conditions could face insurer discrimination again, and millions of families could lose health insurance coverage.

"After all, this debate has always been about something bigger than politics," Obama continued. "It’s about the character of our country—who we are, and who we aspire to be. And that’s always worth fighting for."

You might also like: I Have a Pre-Existing Condition: Real People Share Their Health Conditions